History of 3D graphics

Computer graphics formally began in 1963 with the work of Sutherland.

In his classic thesis, he showed that a computer could be used for interactive design of line drawings on a simple CRT display (cathode-ray tube display) and a few auxiliary input controls. Other people had already connected CRTs to computers in the 50’s to generate very simple output displays however it was not until Sutherland developed his system for man-machine interactive picture generation that people became aware of computer graphics full potential.

The realization of the potential however was slow to develop. There were three major barriers. The first major barrier was the then high cost of computing. It was quickly discovered that computer graphics, especially if it were to be interactive would be beyond the computers capacity in both processing and memory size. During the sixties, the cost of meeting these demands could only be justified for research purposes in a few universities and large industrial research labs.

The second barrier was a lack of understanding of the intricacies of picture generating software that would be needed for an effective computer graphics system. It was learned that someone had to develop a data structure that would mimic the often barely realised but visually obvious relationships inherent in a 2D picture.

Algorithms for shading, scan conversion and hidden-line removal were needed and were more complex than first imagined. Even a task as simple as drawing a line on a digitally-oriented display turned out to require complex algorithms

Finally the third barrier was the complexity of both system software and application software was grossly underestimated, many of the early graphics achievements were in fact mere ‘toys’ – impressive but inadequate.

Fortunately time favoured computer graphics. The cost of computing fell year after year. Operating systems were improved and our ability to cope with complex software. Impressive progress was made in the development of algorithms for generating pictures.

Timeline

1960s

• Initial experimentation with 3D graphics.
• Key Figures Charles Csuri and John Whitney Sr.

1970s

• Many animation and rendering algorithms used today were developed in the 1970’s
• Image and bump textures developed
• Hand and face improvements
• First use of 3D CGI in movies
• Hand and face animation improvements
• First use of 3D CGI in movies.

1980s

• Reytracing rendering developed ( raytracing is a CG algorithm used to calculate reflections and refractions of light)
• Video became most common output method for animation
• ‘TRON’ was the first movie with more than 20 mins of digital graphics (1982)
• The mid to late 80’s saw a huge growth in the use of digital graphics in movies and advertising.
• Luxo Jr. (pixar, 1985) was the first computer-generated animation to be nominated for an academy award
• ‘tin toy’ (pixar, 1988) was first to win an academy award
• Particle system’s animation developed

1990’s and 2000s

• Continued growth and use of computer generated graphics in movies and advertising and scientific visualisations
• Notable success of 3D CG imagery in ‘Harry potter’ and ‘the lord of the rings’ feature films
• Rapid advances in modelling, animating and rendering
• Feature length computer generated movies: toy story, a bugs life